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August 17, 2007

Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ

Parking garage transformed into residential complex

It's a sign of the times - a parking garage in Los Angeles of all places is redesigned into a residential building?!

A historically significant 1920s two-story concrete garage with an Italianate facade was preserved (top image, right side) to become part of Trio, a 3.8 acre, 283,000 sf (14,600 sf retail), 304 apartment development in Pasadena's Playhouse District. The developers, Shea Properties ensured that the new construction blended in with the surrounding neighborhood's historic fabric, including the repurposed parking garage. Also on the site, a 1920s eight-story First Trust Bank building will continue to function as an office for First Trust - talk about preserving history.

An interesting note about historic preservation - to receive Historic Tax Credits, adjacent new construction (that is part of the project) must respect the historic structures, but not copy or mimic it, which would detract from its historic significance. Cities often utilize the same principles in their design requirements.

The $70 million Trio received its moniker via its tripartite dedication to fusing the urban, the contemporary and the historic Spanish-style.

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August 16, 2007

Blue Moon Tavern, Portland, OR

Portland OR proves green is profitable (and delicious)

It's the age old debate - the environment vs the economy. CEOs for Cities' recent report, Portland's Green Dividend provides evidence that the two are synonymous.

The key statistic* in the report is the following:
20.3 miles/day - average Portland commute
24.3 miles/day - average commute in the 33 most populous metro areas
What does 4 miles/day add up to? Figuring in a conservative $.40 mile, that translates to $1.1 billion. Then add in $15/hour for the 100 million hours saved, and that's another $1.5 billion for a total of $2.6 billion a year.

Now here's where it gets interesting - where does all that money go? Where it doesn't go is outside the local economy, as 90% of automobile expenditures leave the state. While there's no way to know for sure where people spend their money instead, is it a coincidence that Portland has the second highest number of restaurants per capita among the metro areas? It's probably also not a coincidence that it has more microbreweries per capita than any other major city.

It's also a common rule that housing dollars and transportation dollars are inversely proportional and Portlanders spend a greater percentage of their incomes on the value of their homes. Now, would you rather have greater value in the experience of the destination, or in the experience in getting there?

Still, even when it comes to 'getting there', compared to other metro areas, bicycle commuting is seven times more popular, hybrid car ownership per capita is the highest and the rider rating of its mass transit doubles the national average. Does this mean Portland is ready for promenades, paseos and piazzas?

*U.S. Department of Transportation, 2005
Image: Blue Moon Tavern & Grill

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August 15, 2007

Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ

AZ's university research center aims at innovation

Arizona doesn't exactly have a reputation for placemaking, but Arizona State University is looking to change that in a grand way with their Next American University plan to accommodate 90,000 students via two new urban campuses, one north of Phoenix, one in its downtown. Then there's ASU's take on what university research buildings should be, a microcosm of University of South Carolina's Innovista research village.

Skysong, aka the ASU-Scottsdale Center for Innovation, is a 37-acre, ten-year, 1.2 million s.f. project that will provide 4000 jobs and $300 million in investment via office space, retail and housing, centered by an artistic tent-like structure.

The city's key goal of course, is to leverage the university to create high-growth jobs, export its innovations, attracting global companies as partners, and developing entrepreneurial and tech transfer programs (eg Technopolis, the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, and the Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling). The ASU Foundation bought the land for $41.5 million, then sold it to the City who is leasing it back along with financing its infrastructure.

Now the urban design of the large mid-rise industrial-looking buildings aren't the most humanistic, but at least it's not parking lot-oriented. It's a step in the right direction.

Read more in The Next American City.

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August 14, 2007

Eat.shop guides

The eat.shop guides to creative destinations

You're visiting a major city (or living in one) and are not only committed to avoiding the chains when pondering your dining and shopping options, but seeking out those cool, unique, indie places loved by locals and established by creative, progressive entrepreneurs that take those experiences to another level. Enter the eat.shop guides.

All 90 of the profiled businesses are unique, local, independent, homegrown, creative types "who are highly influenced by the arts and sights of the cities they live in", many of whom are VIBEs. Not only are the businesses authentic, but so is the design of the book - all photographs (each business has one) are taken with natural lighting without any staging, written in a conversational style by one person (in each city) who really understands the community vibe, and updated every two years to keep things fresh.

How did the eat.shop guides come to be? Founder Kaie Wellman, a graphic designer, was fed up with being dictated by her clients what good design was, so on a soul-searching road trip while at a gift show in San Francisco, she realized she could use her design talents to help inspire people to discover the hidden world of creative places to eat and shop in a city.

Starting with Portland, OR, the series now includes Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Washington DC.

The book sums up its purpose quite nicely in its 'about' section, "Support the locals, they are the soul of the city."

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August 13, 2007

Bourbon Street, New Orleans

New Orleans creatives take the initiative to rebuild

Even before Katrina, the city of New Orleans was lacking in creative urban investment. Perhaps spurred by the aftermath, there is a crowdsourcing swell of activity to rebuild the city better than before.

One such group is the Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals (YURP), a fast-growing membership group of several hundred cultural progressives dedicated to making New Orleans their permanent place of residence.

The group's goal is to establish New Orleans as a creative and entrepreneurial destination for young people and bring the city to the top of the list shared by New York, San Francisco and Austin. In five years they'd like to see New Orleans as a national hot spot for "educated, young people seeking opportunity, culture and a unique quality of life that can't be replicated elsewhere."

They've established an open social network here, and are preparing to initiate a beta community to transform those virtual members into physical tenants and patrons for cutting edge businesses, buildings and lofts in their very own 'YURP district'.

Image source: nycgeo.

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